Basheera Khan writes about social media, cool new software and all things geek. In addition to blogging for the Telegraph, she is an occasional contributor to TechCrunch Europe and a freelance user experience consultant. Bash is a South African living in London. Yes, another one. More about Basheera.

Nokia, Siemens and Iran: When technology users get bloody

UPDATE: In an earlier version of this post, I referred to Nokia and Siemens when the company in question is the joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks. Ben Roome, media relations manager at Nokia Siemens Networks, has posted a clarification of the company's provision of Lawful Intercept capability in Iran, which is worth reading for additional context.

Companies don't seem to realise that now more than ever, most people don't want to be the indirect supporters of evil. When furnished with the facts, people will act by calling for a boycott of their products.

A friend of mine, discussing the matter online, said blaming Nokia for Iran's use of their technology would be like blaming Ikea for selling cutlery to a family "where the oldest brother stabbed someone with the steak knife".

I disagree. A comparable situation would be if Ikea were to sell knives to a family even after they were shown videos of the oldest son torturing the neighbourhood cats with Habitat-branded tableware.

The problem is, you'd be hard pressed to find a government that doesn't monitor its citizens' communications, or a technology company that isn't tempted by pots of public sector dosh.

Which raises all sorts of thorny issues around balancing individual digital rights and freedoms against national safety and security; and balancing shareholder value against the value of human life and liberty.

If these things worry you – and trust me, they should – make a friend of organisations like the Open Rights Group and CorpWatch. As Iran has demonstrated, knowledge is power.